Hunted
by Blueh
Summary: When Ace and his friends are dumped on a dangerous island for a 'field trip' they have to learn how to survive and not get eaten by the dangerous animals that hunt the place, though they aren't doing great. It seems their only hope lies in the hands of a small, straw-hat wearing boy that lives on the island and trusts no one. Can Ace open up his heart? AU / Romance AceLu
1. Hunter

This place was dangerous. This place was deadly. From the plants to the animals and even the harmless rocks could sentence a painful death to anyone who messed up. Ace knew. Ace had seen it happen.

Where was he? The young teen didn't recognize this place. It was dense, he could barely see seven feet in front of him. Plants covered every area of his vision. It was like a giant green monster. In the distance, he heard a scream.

Someone was caught. Someone died.

His instincts were running on overdrive. He couldn't let his guard down or else he's end up a snack to anything that lived on the island. Yes, that included the rocks. Without another word, the raven haired male took off in the opposite direction hoping to find a safe place.

A safe place? He scoffed at his only hope. There was no safe place on this island.

But what else could he do? Ace couldn't run forever. In fact, he could already feel his adrenalin wear off. His lunges were burning and his mouth was dry but he forced himself to continue running. To continue living.

He was panting heavily by now. It felt like his entire side was on fire but he forced back his pain to the back of his mind. The last thing that he needed was to lose focus and run into an animals gaping mouth.

Off to the left, he heard a growl. Ace's eyes widened and he barely had time to register the fact that there was a _giant _lion stalking towards him, fully intent on making the teen it's next meal. Ace let out a yelp, jumping to the right and barley dodging the teeth that could tear into flesh without hesitation.

The raven haired teen let out a grunt as he connected hard with the ground. He closed his eyes, trying to regain his breath before pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Behind his, the lion growled again, muscles tense and ready to pounce.

Ace's eyes snapped open and he crawled forwards as fast as he could just as the lion landed where he was just a few moments ago. Flipping himself onto his back, he forced himself to look at the beast and not show the fear that was now bubbling up inside of him.

He looked around wildly, trying to find something that might help him. _Anything. _Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted a stick that looked rather sturdy and hard a rather sharp point at the tip.

More adrenaline pumped through his veins and he lunged for his only hope. Grabbing the stick, he scurried to his feet and faced the lion. The mighty beast was easily four or five times bigger than an average lion and looked _way _more powerful. It's sharp teeth were stained in blood and Ace didn't really want to know if it was animal or human.

Every instinct in his body was screaming, 'RUN!' but he couldn't. He couldn't run anymore. It was fight or be eaten. Without much though, Ace hefted his stick in front of his and charged with an enraged yell. The beast, taken by surprise, didn't react until the stick has buried itself right under one of it's nasy, yellow eyes.

Fueled by pain, the beast howled, wrenching it's head back and sending Ace flying back a few feet. The lion shook it's head a few time, wiping it's paw over the wound. If Ace wasn't in the situation that he was currently in, he would've thought of the animal as pitiful.

Taking use of the animal's distraction, Ace started to scoot backwards. He didn't consider this running. He considered this tactical retreat that would better his future—hopefully.

The beast let out a low growl when it noticed that it's prey was getting away. It stopped pawing at it's face and instead settled for killing the thing that wounded it in the first place.

"Nice kitty . . ." Ace said hesitantly, backing up some more until his back hit a tree. He held in a groan. Honestly, how much more cliché could this situation get? Now all that he needed was a really hot female to come and save the day.

Huh. As if.

The lion snarled, showing off it's bloody teeth once more. It was crouched down now, fully intent on ending it's prey's life. Ace would've screamed for someone to help him, but he knew it was futile. Everyone else was probably on the verge of death as well.

The young teen shut his eyes tight, feeling the warm breath of the predator on his skin. He was going to die. He knew this.

He felt the lion open it's giant maw and inch slowly towards his unprotected body.

Slowly.

Slowly.

_Too damn slowly._

And suddenly he felt nothing.

It's like everything went silent. Even the birds stopped chirping.

Distinctly, he heard the lion howl in pain and Ace could only imagine what kind of creäture had come along and claimed the lion for itself. He didn't want to know because he knew he'd become it's next snack.

But the raven-haired male forced his eyes open, looking at the sight in front of him with disbelief.

A human!

Another human had saved him!

It was a boy from what he could tell, no older than fourteen years old. He didn't have a shirt on, proudly displaying a nasty 'x' shaped scar of his bare, muscular chest. He had on blue shorts with white cuffs at the end even if they were a little ruffed up. Small, almost invisible scars, littered the rest of his body and a single straw hat sat atop of his raven locks.

The boy was glaring at the lion, who was now pushed through several trees and unconscious. How-? Forget it, he would figure it out later. Ace had to admit that even he got chills from the boy's dark eyes that held so much _pain. _Just what had this kid experienced?

Suddenly, the boy turned towards him with the same cold, hard glare. His fists were clenched in obvious anger and he snarled, "You shouldn't be here. Leave us alone!"

The world started spinning and Ace grabbed his head, hoping it would stop. Yet, it didn't and a miracle happened.

_He woke up._

* * *

**Confused? Good. **

**Ahh! I've always wanted to write a AceLu fic that wasn't brotherly and this was my chance! I've literally had this idea in my head for months but I ignored it until I couldn't write anything else because of this little plot bunny.**

**I'm actually fairly exited to write this because it's going to have an interesting story line (at least, in my opinion) and it's going to be pretty long. I plan on stretching this story out as much as I can. And before you ask, yes Luffy will be a little OOC at the beginning but I'll explain that later in the story. He's just not a people person in this story.**

_**THERE WILL BE NO OCS**_

**Don't like them, so I won't include them. If I have to add a character, I'll go look up random one piece back story characters and use them instead. **

**Ahh, please tell me what you think! I plan on updating all my other stories soon! I think the order that I'll update is Sanity, Confusion Ensured, Unexpected Emergencies and then Changing the Future. Though it depends on school and stuff ;w;**


	2. Just a dream

Ace _hated _it here. It was white—way too white—full of juvenile criminals that have committed unspeakable crimes and such. Ace just happened to be one of those kids.

It's not like it was his choice to be here, in fact, it wasn't even his fault that he wasn't sent here. Somehow, the government had found out who his father was—an infamous terrist—and sent him here, fearing the worst. Ace _hated _his dad. _Hated _everyone else.

The only light that he had was his friends—Marco and Thatch—two teens that were as wrongfully accused as he was. They had been with him since the beginning and will stick with him until the end. Ace was sure of that.

The teachers called it Jubi. Ace called it hell along with everyone else.

Apparently, it was legal here to send them to places that could kill them and then make them run another ten miles while they're recovering. They'd even had some kids die here last year.

Ace, however, would _never _be one of those people. He wouldn't alow this _school _to break him. To kill him. He would get stronger, use what he had learned to eventually become free.

That was his dream.

A foolish, foolish dream.

But what else could he do? Sit here until he turned eighteen, in a year, and let them ship him off to some national prison like Impel Down? No. He would fight. That's what separated Ace from all the other kids; he was willing to fight for his freedom. For his dream.

He glared on as the teacher started talking, introducing himself like he did _every single class. _He started his lecture and Ace was pretty sure he was about to fall asleep until he heard one word that made him lift his head; _pirate._

_Pirates are freedom._

"—He was a very famous bastard," The teacher continued on, unaware of the curious eyes of the raven haired male. "His name was Shanks—Akagami Shanks. He was a pirate over four hundred years ago, sailing the seas and hurting defenseless people. The government had tried several times to capture him, but all turned out unsuccessful. Eventually the man disappeared along with his crew. They were believed to hit a strong storm on their way to the next island and al of them died."

Ace could feel Marco's eyes watching his back, wondering why the teen had suddenly got so animated. Ace was usually asleep at this time, not glaring at the teacher with a strange light in his eyes.

_Pirates are freedom._

"Of course," The teacher said, tapping a map the he had drawn on the chalkboard. "There were many other pirates that sailed the ocean, but none were anywhere near as famous as Akagami, though it is said that a man called Blackbeard could go toe to toe with the man in a fight and was believed to be the second strongest pirate the world has ever seen. He too had disappeared in around the same area as Akagami." The teacher circled a large island a bit away from a larger one. "Your next assignment will be on this island. You are to survive until we feel like bringing you back to base." He circled the smaller island that lied a bit further north and closer to where Ace was now. "You are to say away from this island _at all costs. _It's full of animals that could kill you without a second thought."

For some strange reason, Ace was reminded of his dream last night.

"We might not like you," The teacher practically growled. "But we don't want you to die. Try not to resort of cannibalism while you're suviving. It creates more paper work for us and we really don't want anyone getting addicted to human meat." He erased the map. "Good luck to you all."

* * *

"I have I-can't-go-on-this-fiel-trip diesase," A long-nosed man that Ace recognized as Ussop, a guy from his class, whimpered.

The green haired man—Zoro, simply snorted. "These teachers are going to have to do better than a survival course if they want to _discipline _me."

Nami, another person from Ace's classes, rolled her eyes as Robin snorted. "Do give them any ideas, Zoro, or you're going to _regret _it."

"Scary," A tiny boy—not older than fourteen, whimpered. Ace vaguely remembered his name to be Chopper, but he didn't really see the kid around so he didn't know.

Honestly, how did people like them end up in a place like this anyway? They all looked relatively harmless—minus the green-haired male and the intimidating female, but he wouldn't pry. Everyone has their secrets.

"Hey," He felt a familiar blonde plop down beside him accompanied by another brunette. For the first time today, the raven allowed a grin to appear on his face as he turned towards his only friends. "What's up?"

They had sat on the 'field trip' boat, as the teachers dubbed it, for almost an hour, waiting for it to be leaving port. There was only one teacher accompanying them and one captain of the ship plus a few scattered crew members.

The wood creaked above and Ace just had time to move out-of-the-way as a chunk of water had fallen right where he was sitting a few seconds ago. He looked up with a glare, though the person above decks couldn't see it.

They were cleaning the deck. That meant that the ship was almost ready to leave.

Suddenly the ship lurched and a few students cried out, struggling to regain their footing. Ace was use to the treatment along with Thatch and Marco and apparently the other group of strangers that Ace was observing earlier. They didn't care anymore, this was just another absurd routine that everyone hated.

Just another day in hell.

* * *

Apparently it took almost week to get to the island that they were heading to.

That meant a week of manual labor.

Ace forced himself not to roll his eyes as he washed the desk, barely making a conversation with Marco. They'd been out at sea for a while now, around two days at most. Ace lost count after the first hour and he didn't really care if he was wrong.

"—Ace?" A voice called, snapping the teen out of his thoughts. Ace looked up just a bit to see Marco's concerned face looking at him. Frankly, he thought that the blonde looked completely ridiculous in the overalls that they were forced to wear when ever the had to clean something, but he didn''t comment and pushed the thought out of his mind. "Ace are you listening to me?"

He looked down at the deck, forcing his face to stay neutral. "Yeah, yeah."

"Then what did I say?"

_shit._

"Something about . . . " Ace was lost for words. "The weather?" He guess aimlessly.

"You didn't hear a word that I said, did you?"

The teen gave his best friend a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head. Marco simply sighed in exasperation, shaking his head in a fond manner. "What do you think the island's going to be like?"

Ace stopped grinning, looking up from the deck and out at the ocean. "I dunno, but I have this feeling . . . "

"Good or bad?"

The raven shook his head. "I can't tell yet."

His blonde friend cracked a smile. "Let's hope it's interesting, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ace trailed off, deep in thought. For a second, he say eyes. Cold, full of pain and he recognized them immediately. The boy. The boy with the straw-hat from his dream.

But . . . That was just a dream, wasn't it?

* * *

Ace woke with a start, letting out a cry of surprise when he realized he was air born. He slammed back on the deck, hard and grunted as he felt the new bump on his head. He looked around below deck, where all the students were staying and was surprised to see confusion on their face as well.

Distantly, he heard yelling from above deck and the wind howling in a way Ace had never experienced before. His eyes widened just as another jerk threw him forward, into a wall.

A storm.

A _very _bad storm.

"Ace!" He heard someone yell from behind him, barely heard over the raging sound. He turned around rapidly, looking at Thatch, his eyes full of fear. "Ace! We need to get out of here! The ship's going under!"

_What? _

"The storm—" Marco was cut off by another wave crashing into the hull, sending them stumbling a few steps. "If we stay below deck, we'll die! We have to go to the life boats!"

Ace yelled something back, still in shock.

This wasn't part of their routine.

This wasn't—couldn't be happening.

_Just a dream_, he had tried to tell himself as he raced up the stair case, careful not to trip on the wet wood. Up on deck, he heard screaming coming from some of the students, watching as they ran around in panic.

_Just a dream._

"The life boats are gone!" A random student cried out, fear overtaking his voice. "We're going to die! All of us are going to die!" The ship jerked again, sending the student overboard and into the unforgiving ocean.

_Just a dream._

"Damnit!" Thatch cursed beside him, looking more frightened than Ace had ever seen him. Marco was in no better condition as the rain continued to pelt on their bare skin. "It can't end like this! We haven't gotten our freedom back!"

The brunette raced forward, closely followed by Marco. With no choice, Ace trailed after them, trying to clear his mind. He barely blinked when the wind tore Thatch straight off the boat and into the dark blue ocean water.

_Just a dream._

He didn't flinch as Marco yelled his friend's name over and over, grabbing onto the rail as tightly as he could so he wouldn't fall off as well. He wasn't worried when he saw Marco's tearstreaked face and wasn't surprised when he felt tear flowing freely down his own.

_Just a dream._

He didn't cry out when Marco was suddenly torn for the railing, straight into the ocean along with Thatch. He didn't scream when he crashed down hard on the deck, possibly breaking a few bones from the impact.

_Just a dream._

He didn't care when he felt blood drip down in face and into his eye. He didn't yell when he was suddenly in the air again, heading over the railing.

_Just a dream._

He didn't cry out when frigid cold water evoked his body in a freezing cocoon.

_Just a dream._

He didn't bawl when his eyes started getting dim from lack of oxygen.

_Just a dream._

He didn't agonzie when the only world he's ever know went black.

_It's just a dream._

* * *

**These are really short chapters for me ;w; Wow. They'll be getting longer, don't worry!**

**Anyways, I don't really have much to say other than if you're looking for something to do, I'd recommend reading some of my other stories ^^ cx**


	3. The Island of None

He was drowning below the waves, struggling to get a breath. He broke the surface once, maybe twice, but Ace couldn't tell. Everything was a blur at this point. Just a bunch of blues and greys mixed together to form a picture that Ace never wanted to see again.

The storm was raging around him as yet another wave crashed down on his head, sending him spinning under the water yet again. He tried to scream, but only bubbles came out.

_This wasn't a dream._

He was going to die. Ace knew this for a fact as he saw no way to get out of such a situation. He had never been scared of death, but it didn't mean that he had a death wish. He would've preffered to live until he was an old man, sitting on the porch watching his grand kids run across his lawn.

Ace clawed at his throat, trying not to breath, yet the need was getting too great. Right as he was about to pass out, he broke the surface, gulping in as much oxygen as he could. His hands batted at the surface, trying unsuccessfully to stay afloat.

In the distance, he thought that he saw a speck. No, wait. That wasn't a speck. As he looked closer, he noticed a giant island that seemed to go on for miles and miles. Was that his escape route?

But no, Ace quickly realized he wasn't going to make it there. Yet another wave drug him under the unforgiving ocean, wrapping it's watery tendrils around his body. His vision blurred, his eyes stung and his lungs were begging for the air that Ace couldn't provide them.

This was the end. He though, closing his eyes for what he thought would be the last time. But, right as he was about to lose consciousness, two strong, yet skinny arms wrapped themselves around his armpits and yanked him up.

Ace coughed and sputtered as he reached the surface, his mind was a mess. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a straw hat that seemed to make the world glow.

* * *

As Luffy drug the last of the survivors on the beach, he stared to wonder just why in hell he was doing this. Normally, if any ship is caught in the current that he called the 'Ripper', he would just leave them in the ocean to die. It wasn't like they'd surive here anyway.

But these people were special, yet Luffy couldn't tell why. All of them were around his age, maybe older, and powerful. Luffy could already tell even if they're complely out of the world right now.

He cracked a grin, dropping the last survivor on the white beach, letting the rain pelt on their bodies. After this was done, he could go back home and completely forget about this mess in the first place. Maybe then would his strange urge be satisfied.

After all, it wasn't his fault if these people lived or died. Most of them should've been dead already, as they faced the Ripper, but they weren't. If they wanted to venture into the forest, they'd probably die by the animals as well. Only the strong will survive.

Luffy just happened to be one of those 'stong' people.

The boy stuffed his hands into the pockets of his tattered blue shorts and walked back into the forest, ignoring the hungry eyes of the animals. They knew better than to challenge him, and besides, Luffy was confident in his ability to fight off such petty creatures.

The boy started to run as the sent of freshly cooked meat hit his noise. He was hungry! After all that swimming, he was ready to eat about now. Plus,it was past his dinner time.

The tree house came into view and Luffy barley hid his excitement. He quickly scaled the tree, pushing open the door and latched onto the blond that was cooking over a fire-place that they had made.

"Sabo!" Luffy whined, wrapping his arms tighter around the older boy. ""M hungry! When are we going to eat?"

"A few minutes probably," Sabo responded with a lazy grin. "Where were you? You usually would've be back an hour ago."

"Mmm," Luffy hummed, burying his face into his only brother's back. "A ship got caught in the Ripper."

The Ripper was what Sabo and Luffy called the current right outside their island that had let many ship to their early grave. The boys didn't know exactly what made the ships sink, but every times there was a storm and a ship was passing through, it wouldn't make it. Luffy and Sabo usually left the ship alone, waiting for it's suppies to wash up on shore from time to time. The only downside was it washed up the bodies as well.

The bodies never stuck around for long, much to Luffy and Sabo's relife. Most of the time, the animals would come and drag it off into the forest and devour it before it could start to rot.

"What'd you do?" Sabo's tone had an accusing edge to it as he detached his brother from his back and chucked him on the couch. "Usually you leave that stuff alone."

Luffy stared up at the ceiling, not blinking and lost in thought. "I dunno," He responded eventually. "It's just—" He shook his head. "Come really weird feeling, you know? It's like you want to eat, but you're not hungry."

Sabo rolled his eyes and went back to cooking. "So, what'd you do with the bodies?"

Luffy wrinkled his nose. "I left the dead ones in the ocean. I don't like touching them. But the others are on the beach. North side."

Sabo chuckled lightly. "And you just left them there?"

Luffy snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "If they live, they live. If they die, they die. 'Tis not my problem that they were stupid enough to travel on that bastard of a current."

Sabo shrugged. "They might've not know better." His voice took on an edge of curiously. "So, what were they like?"

"They were all our age, which was weird." Luffy commented, twirling a pice of his black hair lazily. "I didn't really see any adults in the water and the ones that were there were already dead so I just left them."

"You see any good supplies while you were swimming?" Sabo asked, placing the food on plates for the two of them. "It's been a while since a ship wrecked here. We're starting to get low. I need more plates since you keep breaking them."

"Not my fault that they're so fragile." Luffy said as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "But I didn't see anything specific. Just some random boxes. They should be on the beach in a few days or so if they don't sink."

"I hope they have some usable stuff this time." Sabo said with a frown as he passed Luffy his plate. "Last time it was just a bunch of shit. We can't use gold around here, can we?"

"Nope," His brother replied, taking a seat across the table. "Gold's pretty much useless."

Sabo laughed, placing his food on the opposite side of Luffy. "It wasn't so useless back then, though."

The boy's eyes darkened and Sabo knew that he'd crossed a line. "The past is the past. I don't ever want to talk about _that _again."

Sabo pointed his fork at the boy, a frown on his face. "Luffy, you're going to have to face your demons at one point or another. You can't keep hiding."

Luffy's eyes flashed dangerously. "I can keep hiding as long as I stay hidden. Those bastards will never find us again. They can't take us back."

And Sabo sighed. A long, tried sigh as he demons crept behind him, ready to devour the blonde. "You're right, Luffy. They will never take us back."

* * *

**I'll redo this chapter later =3=**

**Not very happy with the outcome, but whatever. I read through some of it, but got lazy towards to bottom so yeah. M'kay, I literally just typed this up in the last 30 minutes and it's 12 AM here so, um, goodnight. **


End file.
